


Frozen In Time

by ke_xia



Category: Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-10
Updated: 2015-08-22
Packaged: 2018-04-14 00:51:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4543851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ke_xia/pseuds/ke_xia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Claire goes through the stones at the end of DIA, she doesn't go back to the 40's. She gets frozen in them for 20 years and emerges still young and still pregnant, then is reunited with Jamie who has aged.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a collection of prompts sent in to [Imagine Claire & Jamie](http://imagineclaireandjamie.tumblr.com/tagged/frozen-in-time-au) on tumblr, written by Mod Eli. (That's me!) I'm posting them here for easier reading and in case there's anyone over here on AO3 who might not be on tumblr. Do feel free to check the blog out, though, and send in prompts if you have more ideas for our favorite pair!

> anonymous said:  
>  Imagine when Claire goes through the stones at the end of DIA, she doesn't go back to the 40's and gets frozen in them for 20 years and emerges still young and still pregnant, then is reunited with Jamie who has aged

There was no sense of time within the veil. There was no time within the veil. It was a blackness, a purgatory of lost souls, though most of them never had the chance to be free. They were all there, lurking about in the darkness, clawing and scraping and screaming out their misery. For Claire, it was at the same time just the blink of an eye and every. single. second. counted. When she woke, the air had changed, but there was no question as to where she was. 

When, however, was another question entirely.

They didn’t trust her at Lallybroch. Witch, they whispered. They crossed themselves and made the signs against evil, not bothering to wait until she wasn’t looking. Jenny, dark hair streaked with grey now, eyes wrinkled at the corners and a new set of worrylines across her forehead. How long? she wondered. How long was I gone? 

Jamie’s in Edinburgh, young Jamie (who was no longer quite so young) had told her. He’d given her some money and some food, then sent her on her way. Whatever it took to get her out of there as quickly as possible.

Edinburgh. Alive. Jamie was alive. And if Jenny was going grey- Had he found someone else? What if he’d married again, had a full family of his own? What if he didn’t want her anymore? The year was 1766. Claire had been lost for twenty years. Good God, anything could’ve happened. She clung to that knowledge that Jamie was alive, though

When she arrived in Edinburgh, Claire got herself a room and began her quiet inquiries. Jamie found her first, though. She was dining alone in her room the second night after she’d arrived when the knock had sounded at her door. She dropped the piece of bread from her hand and stood to walk to the door. Perhaps someone had heard something and came with news. She pulled the door open and choked out a soft breath. 

“Jamie,” she whispered.

He gaped at her in confusion, and her own gaze wasn’t any less understanding. He had aged some, yes; a glitter of silver here and there amidst the auburn locks. But he was as strong and handsome as he ever had been. He looked so troubled, though.

“I’ve had… a letter,” he said at last. “From Jenny.” 

He was trembling. Bloody hell. Claire reached out and gently took his hand to pull him inside. She closed the door behind him and took a deep breath, running a hand over her head, trying to figure out where to begin. Fear boiled in her guts. He didn’t want her. She could feel it. She was young still and he was older and he didn’t want to be a part of the witchcraft everyone accused her of.

“I don’t know what happened, Jamie.” Claire released Jamie’s hand and walked over to sit down on the bed, feeling vaguely ill. “I touched the stones, I got away. But I didn’t… go through.” She’d been having nightmares ever since she’d come out. The screams wouldn’t leave her mind. “I couldn’t really tell how much time was passing- or that it was passing at all. I don’t know how to explain it but I was stuck. It was like purgatory. And when I finally got out- twenty years had passed.”

Jamie stood there still, simply gazing at her. It was clear he didn’t know what to say, and she didn’t know what she could tell him to make any of it better. Christ, did he hate her now? What was he thinking? She hated that bloody empty mask, that skill of hiding his emotions that he had always had.

“What of the child?” he asked at last.

Claire’s eyes widened, then her face softened in understanding, and her hand went immediately to her stomach. She was still half-starved, and she still feared for the baby, but when she turned inward, she could feel that glowing life within her womb. The baby was strong. A traveler, like her, perhaps. “I’m… still pregnant,” she answered quietly. “Jamie, please-”

“Alive?” he asked breathlessly, taking a step toward her. 

“Alive. I don’t- I can’t say how I know. I can just… I can feel him, I can feel his life. He’s strong, Jamie.”

“He?” 

She smiled a little and shrugged. “Well, we did call Faith a ‘he’ and we were wrong there. We won’t know until they’re born, of course.” 

Jamie released a long, slow breath and finally moved forward to sink down next to his wife. There was a bit of space between them, but he angled himself toward her. He was nervous, unsure. Good lord, it was worse than their wedding night, and Claire still hadn’t a clue what to do. He was gazing at her intensely, drinking in the sight of her, and she was doing the same, trying to take note of every new wrinkle, of every little flash of silver. She swallowed hard and took a deep breath. 

“Do you- not want me anymore, Jamie?” she whispered, voice wavering even soft as it was. Her eyes filled with tears and she dropped her gaze to her hands in her lap. “If you’ve found someone else-”

He made a noise of distress and reached out to catch her face between his hands, lifted it up, and pressed his lips to hers in a deep kiss. “There could never be anyone else, Sassenach. It’s always been you. I’ve prayed for yer safety, and the bairn’s all these years and I hadn’t thought-” He gripped her tightly and pressed their foreheads together. “If it’s as ye say- if the child is well wi’in yer womb… I’ll have the chance I thought I’d missed.”

Hot tears spilled down her cheeks, but Claire nodded a little against his forehead. Now she was terrified. If something happened to this baby? Then what? Would he wish to be rid of her for good? Slowly, she reached out, fingers running along his hand before taking it into her own very tentatively. Jamie squeezed her hand and wrapped his free arm around her shoulders, tugging her in against his chest, face buried in her hair.

A shuddering sob escaped her and she pressed in against him, clinging tightly to his hand. Jamie held onto her, though rubbing her arm, the damp heat of his own tears wetting her hair. 

“Thank God ye’re safe, Sassenach,” he whispered brokenly into her hair. “Thank God ye’re back.”

Maybe things were going to be difficult, maybe life was going to be different, but it’d be all right. All that mattered was that they were together again. And together, they could get through anything.


	2. Chapter 2

> anonymous  
> Please continue the one in where Claire is frozen in the stones and come back 20 years with Jamie. Maybe Jamie has insecurities to; he’s older than her and he used to be the younger one.

They lay in bed next to one another, both on their backs, hands touching, but the rest of their bodies tense with nerves. They’d been laying there for an hour now, trying to sleep but not quite able. There was more to be said, for sure. They’d both been so afraid, so nervous to even hold hands, but now they lay in the darkness with the unspoken questions hovering between them. 

Jamie said there was no one else. Had there ever been anyone else? He’d told her what he’d been up to all these years, finding a way to survive, going to prison, his parole, and now his print shop here in Edinburgh. But there was more; Claire could feel it. 

Finally, unable to bear the thick silence any longer, she rolled onto her side facing him and propped her head up with her elbow. Claire gazed down at Jamie in the darkness, watching the way the shadows bent across his features. He was so much older now, face gently creased with the lines of a harsh life. He hadn’t touched her, and that hadn’t made her feel wanted at all. But then… she hadn’t touched him, either. They were both too scared, clearly.

Now, though, she lifted her hand and he opened his eyes to peer up at her, still silent. Claire gently ran her finger along his brow, then down over the wrinkles at the corner of his eyes. “Life has been so difficult for you,” she whispered into the darkness. Emotion welled up in her chest and made her throat tighten. “I should’ve been at your side through it.” Her palm cupped his jaw, thumb brushed along the line of his nose. It was off a bit. Broken, at some point.

Jamie seemed to be holding his breath as he watched her. Then suddenly, he reached up to cup her face just the same, all the breath leaving him in a nervous huff. “Does it turn yer wame, Sassenach, to see me so… old?” he asked finally. “I’m like a pair of old, worn shoon.”

She blinked in surprise at that. Did it– Christ, how could he possibly think that she’d not want him? He’d sacrificed everything for her and this child. He’d sent her away, and she would have raised their child without him! And to think that she could ever not want him? So he had a few new wrinkles, perhaps a new scar or two, but he was still Jamie, beautiful and honorable, kind; still had that impossibly good soul. He was still the man she’d married, decades older or no. And bloody hell, he wasn’t that old. 

“You’re not old,” she grumbled at him. “You’ve still a long life left to live, Jamie. Children and grandchildren to watch grow. You’ve aged, and it breaks my heart to know it happened without me. But you’ve aged beautifully.” Claire let out a soft laugh. “I want you no less than I always have. I want to explore your body, to see what has changed and what hasn’t. Do you not want that, too?”

He swallowed hard, the sound audible in the quiet room. Then he pushed himself up on one elbow as well and ran his hand back through her hair, letting his thumb brush over her cheek. “Aye, I want that. I want ye. I just-” He hesitated.

“Jamie. Tell me you don’t think what they’re all thinking. That I’m some… horrible witch or faerie. I’m still me. I didn’t ask to be trapped. My screams joined the others in that void. I was afraid and alone in the darkness and I-” Her voice broke as tears began to run down her face. “I’m not some demon!” 

“Ach, I ken that, mo nighean donn. I dinna think ye’re a demon. An Auld One, perhaps. But no’ evil. Beautiful as the day I last saw ye. Bit thin, but then we were starvin’, then, no? I’ll fatten ye up again, see ye grow round wi’ my child. I dinna ken how many years I’ve left in this life, but I’ll love ye every single one of them, Claire. And should ye decide ye’ll always want me, though I’m old and grey, well, I’ll count that as one of my many blessings.”

She was silent for a while, though her breaths came out in trembling chokes, then suddenly Claire launched herself at Jamie. He caught her, pulled her over on top of him, and they kissed deeply, the salty taste of tears caught between their lips. They fumbled with one another’s clothes. There was a sound of tearing and she made a noise of protest when he tossed her torn shift away.

“Aye, well, ye’ve only got that worn gown ye wore during the Rising, Claire. Ye’ll be needin’ new ones, anyway,” he scolded softly, and they both laughed. He was right. 

Once his shirt was off, she pushed him back into the pillow and shifted back to kneel between his legs. Jamie watched her warily, but Claire ignored his concern as she reached out to run her fingers through the wiry hairs on his chest. His body was still strong and muscular as she remembered. If anything, he’d only grown more handsome with age. Like a fine wine, she thought with a smile as she bent to place a kiss over his heart. Then she dragged her nose downward a little, inhaling the scent of him, until she found his nipple, which she scraped her teeth over, making him arch and moan.

“A Dhia, I’ve dreamt of yer mouth on me like this, Sassenach. So many times…” 

“You’ll never have to go without it again, my love,” Claire promised, her breath warm against his skin. 

She continued kissing her way down, pausing to suck softly at one hip bone, her hands running up his legs. Her hand halted, though, when she felt the jagged scar on his thigh, and suddenly she was lifting her head for a better look. 

“Culloden,” he whispered. “It nearly killed me. Might ha’, were it no’ for Jenny’s determined administrations.” 

A fresh wave of grief washed over Claire and she burst into tears anew, laying her head against Jamie’s hip as she shook with sobs. “I should’ve been there. Oh, Jamie, I’m sorry. If I’d found a way out sooner…”

Warm, gentle hands pulled her up and lay her back down on the mattress, then Jamie shifted to lay over her, covering her trembling body with his own. “Ye’re here now, mo nighean donn, and that is all that matters. We’re together again, and I willna live a life of regret over what we’ve missed. Hush now, ye’re home.” And with that, he slid home inside of her, a shuddering sigh of his own drifting out of him before he buried his face in her neck and gathered her in. 

Claire’s arms and legs went round him immediately, drawing him in deeper and keeping him there. He rocked shallowly against her, pressing in as deeply as he could. They moved together, moaning softly, reveling in one another and letting the memories of their love take them away. At last, a shudder moved through Claire and she cried out, then Jamie followed her into orgasm with a soft cry of his own. Then they lay there, simply holding one another until the thudding of their hearts eased and that burning need settled into a slow simmer in their bellies, to be returned to at a later time.

Both their faces were wet now, the tears for the pain of their separation and the joy of their reunion. They’d have to learn one another again, but they were on the right path for it already. And after all, they still had time. They could both feel it- time would not get away from them again.


	3. Chapter 3

> anonymous said: I absolutely love this blog! Could you write a continuation of young Claire who got stuck in the stones and older Jamie? What happens next? Is Brianna OK?
> 
> Anonymous said:Love the au prompt of Claire frozen in time! Imagine Claire near the end of that pregnancy and Jamie worrying about her.

They’d felt the baby move, on and off, healthy jabs to Claire’s ribs and organs and swiping a foot or a hand across the walls of her womb so that Jamie could watch with a sort of wonder as his child showed every sign of life and strength. But they were both nervous about the impending birth. What if something was wrong with the baby? What if something had happened there, in the veil of time? Perhaps a demon had entered Claire’s womb, or a faerie? Claire still woke screaming with nightmares of the place, clothes soaked with sweat and her whole body trembling. God only knew how the child might be affected. 

Early on, they’d sailed to America to escape all that had happened in the Highlands. Jamie’s wife wasn’t welcome in most places, and everyone looked at them strangely. She having appeared so suddenly out of nowhere, pregnant, of all things. People didn’t believe she was Jamie’s wife; and some thought she was his mistress, his whore. The looks and whispers had been far more unbearable than the murmurs of her being a witch had ever been.

But here, on Fraser’s Ridge, life was peaceful. Fergus was off traveling along the coast in search of new tenants who would come in the spring. For now, there were just the four of them. Claire, Jamie, Young Ian- who had sneaked aboard the ship after Jenny had outright refused to allow him to join his uncle and the witch-auntie, and Fergus’ wife Marsali. Ian and Marsali had grown used to Claire and had come to love and trust her in their months of traveling together. Seeing her struggle with her pregnancy had surely helped them to see her as little more than a woman, no matter what had happened in the past.

There was a storm raging outside at the present, but the cabin was warm and comfortable, shutters closed against the snow and a warm fire burning on the hearth. Claire had been experiencing a sense of disquiet all day, though. She’d paced back and forth, feeling faint contractions. The babe was coming. Jamie was terrified (though he certainly wasn’t the only one.) He kept leaving the cabin for one thing or another, Ian trailing along after him, only to return when the cold got to be too much. They didn’t want to be there when she was giving birth, Claire knew that, but there was little choice for it now. Marsali, of course, several months along in her own pregnancy, was there to help every step of the way.

Claire had taken to bed to rest for an hour or two, Jamie curled up against her with his hands spread over her shuddering stomach. When she woke, she knew it was time. Two more hours of pushing followed, in which Ian had gone off to the pantry to hide with Rollo. But Jamie was trapped inside, Claire’s hand grasping his hard enough to break bones, were he a weaker man.

At last, a broken wail filled the room, and Claire pushed herself up some, straining to see the baby. “How is he? Is he whole? Let me see him. I need to examine him!” she demanded. She needed to know that her baby was normal, healthy, that no complications had arisen due to their time in the void. 

“Weel, ten fingers and ten toes, mo nighean donn. But I’m afraid he is missing something,” Jamie said, holding the baby in a blanket while Marsali tied off and cut the cord as Claire had taught her. 

Claire felt her stomach drop; a look of fear pulled at her face, and she tried to push herself up, reaching for the baby. “What is it? What’s happened?”

Her husband was beaming, though, eyes alight with excitement and glittering with tears of joy. He looked toward her, finally shifting over so she could take the little bundle. “The babe’s missing the very vital part that makes him a man, Sassenach, seein’ as he’s a she, after all,” he assured her as he lay the writhing baby on her chest. 

“Oh- oh! It’s a girl?” She laughed and looked down, eyes scanning the newborn before she leaned in to do a few quick checks of the baby’s vitals. Healthy. Strong lungs, surely, for the whole cabin seemed to be echoing with her cries. “Brianna,” Claire whispered. “Brianna Ellen.”

“Eh?” Jamie frowned. “What kind of name is that?”

She snorted and tilted her head back to gaze up at him for a moment. Then she looked back down at their daughter, watching as she took to her breast, quieting as she guzzled down her first meal. “You told me, when I’d gone through the stones, to name the child for your father. Seeing as he’s a she, Brianna will have to do, won’t it?”

Jamie snorted at that and bent to kiss the top of his wife’s head. “Aye. Aye, I suppose it is a beautiful name, after all. Brianna,” he echoed, elegantly rolling his tongue around the ‘r’. “She’s a sweet lass. And she’s well, Claire? Truly well?” He sat down on the edge of the bed, draped an arm around his wife, and brushed the thumb of his other hand over the baby’s cheek. Claire could tell that he was already in love.

“She’s well, Jamie. We’ve both made it through just fine.” She tilted her head up to kiss him, their lips lingering together for a moment. Then she lay her head on his shoulder. “I am very tired, though. You’ll take her when she’s finished eating?” 

His eyes widened at the thought of having the baby all to himself, a hint of worry crossing his features. But then he nodded, beaming all over again when that little hand curled around his finger. “I’ll take her, then. And ye’ll need yer rest, mo nighean donn. Ye’ve done so well.” He kissed her head again. “Thank ye. Oh, thank ye for this blessing, Claire,” he added in a whisper.

She was already dozing against his shoulder, but she smiled softly and nodded. “Thank you for loving us. For bringing us back, when we were lost.”

His arm tightened around her, free hand supporting the baby as Claire’s hold sagged. But Brianna had begun to drift off as well, so he gently took her, wrapping her up tight against the chill, and moved to sit by the fire where he could better admire this beautiful baby girl- who looked just like him.


	4. Chapter 4

> anonymous asked:  
> Loved your au about Claire being frozen in the stones and your blog, getting me brought droughtlander! Imagine Jamie and Claire in that au on the ridge with a couple of young children.

“Da! Da!” 

“Daddy!” 

Claire leaned against the doorway of the homestead, smiling as she watched Jamie make his way up the path toward her. He’d handed over the reins of the horses to Ian and turned his attention on the three children barreling down the hill toward him. The littlest of them, a boy with dark hair and blue eyes, stumbled and fell with a squeak of surprise. But his brother and sister each stopped on either side of him to haul him to his feet. He was still getting used to moving about on two legs, and Claire was loving watching him toddle about.

“Alright, there, a bhalaich? Yer knee seems t’be bleedin’,” Jamie said, scooping the dark haired boy up into his arms. 

“Oh, he fell down the steps earlier, ‘cause Henry wasna watching him,” Brianna announced. 

The middle child, a stout little lad with fiery hair that matched both sister and father, turned a grumpy glare on his sister before leaping onto his father’s back. Jamie grunted and bent forward, reaching out to his daughter with one hand. 

“Help me, Brianna,” he gasped dramatically. “Yer brothers are too- heavy. I canna… hold them!” 

Brianna was six now, clearly too old for such silliness, but she rolled her eyes and stepped forward to slid an arm around her father’s waist anyway. Jamie draped his arm around her shoulders and let out a heavy sigh of relief. The girl was tall for her age, and Henry was nearly as tall as her. They were all of them big children, something which Claire had cursed Jamie time and time again for during her pregnancies and deliveries. 

“Da, Jamie’s go’ tread in his knee!” Henry told him.

“Thread? In his knee?” Jamie questioned, hanging the smallest boy in question upside down in his hand to young Jamie’s utter glee. 

“Mama stitched him up earlier. I dinna ken why he’s bleedin’ though. Maybe she needs to have a look at him again.” Brianna sighed as if this were a great inconvenience to her- or as if, perhaps, she was offended on her mother’s behalf.

Jamie smiled and bent down to kiss the top of his daughter’s head. He’d been out hunting with Ian for days. Henry had wanted to come along, but he was still much too young yet. He looked up the hill toward Claire, watching the way the sun touched her face, setting her hair aglow. She kept him young, Claire did. She and the bairns. There was never a dull moment on the Ridge, for he spent most of each day with the children at his feet, helping him with his chores in their own little way. 

By God, she was as beautiful as ever, though. They’d decided against having more children, for young Jamie’s birth had left her weak and ill for weeks. Jamie had been terrified he’d lose her, but she’d pulled through. She was strong, and she’d known that her family had needed her. For that, he was grateful. 

“Aye, well. We’ll let her have a look then.”

“No!” young Jamie chirped, face red enough that his father flipped him right side up and hugged him against his chest as they walked.

“No? Ye dinna want yer mama to look at yer knee?”

“No! Dinna wike it.”

“Maybe no’, but I dinna think ye’ll want to lose the leg, and we just might have to chop it right off if she doesna have a look at it.”

Young Jamie’s blue eyes widened with horror and he let out a squeak that quickly shifted toward a cry. Claire was walking forward to greet them now, leaning in to press a kiss to her husband’s lips. “Did you just tell Jamie that I was going to cut his leg off?” she asked, clicking her tongue at him as she took the squirming, crying little boy into her own arms.

“Well, aye, but I was only kidding.”

“Mama!” the little boy sobbed, pressing his face into her neck and clutching tightly at her hair.

“Hush, darling. Your Da was only joking. Your leg will be fine. I’ll have a look, shall I?”

Jamie glanced down at Brianna and gave a little shrug. She shrugged right back. He smiled and took hold of Henry’s arms around his neck, tugging him up onto his shoulders before ducking through the door to follow Claire. He paused just inside, watching his wife make her way down the hall, two chubby little hands buried tightly in her hair. Jamie grinned and let out a contented sigh.

It was good to be home.


End file.
